PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Bitou Municipality has issued a tender to run the municipality's annual R3,4m tourism budget for the next three years.
The tender, first published on 9 May on the municipal notice board, municipal website and National Treasury e-tender, closes on 30 May.
While the tender will be awarded for the next three years, it can be extended until 2028.
It provides for the appointment of an experienced service provider to undertake the operational responsibilities and core functions of the local tourism organisation in terms of destination marketing, destination management and destination development.
Highest points for destination marketing and destination management requires at least five years' experience, while staff with at least three years' experience are weighted to score most.
This all but ensures that the incumbent Plett Tourism Association, whose control over tourism has been renewed on an annual basis up to now, should be the successful tenderer. The experience requirement rules out the rival Plettenberg Bay Tourism, established last year and formally created earlier this year.
Municipal Manager Mbulelo Memani said the municipality will not be responding until the process has been completed and the normal objection period is allowed and open. The tender document says tourism is a key economic driver and plays a pivotal role in fulfilling the constitutional mandate of Bitou Municipality.
"As such the municipality seeks to provide an enabling environment for responsible and sustainable tourism development and the positioning of the greater Plettenberg Bay (Bitou municipal area) as a destination of choice for visitors and investors," the tender read.
"Points for this tender, even in the case of a tender for income-generating contracts, shall be awarded for: (a) Price (80 points); and (b) Specific goals (20 points). The service provider must also raise funding from sources other than the municipality, such as from membership fees, sponsorships, events, activations, and revenue from the sale of promotional items, levies, commission on bookings and referrals and any other lawful source."
Among the established events to be continued, according to the tender, are Plett Rage, Plett Wine and Bubbly Festival, Plett Ocean Festival and Plett Arts Festival.
The tender also calls for developing and implementing community-based tourism strategies that provide for black economic empowerment through the development of tourism routes and products linking communities to tourism activities, and the development and promotion of emerging businesses and persons in the tourism industry.
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